The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, hosted its fourth annual Slow Art Day on April 11, 2026. Andrea Gumpert, Educator of Wellbeing Programs, led the efforts for this year’s event, which invited visitors to either participate in a guided onsite experience, watch a guided slow looking video from home, or engage independently with a bilingual handout that encouraged them to “Slow Down. Reflect. Discover. Engage.”
A mix of English- and French-speaking participants joined Interpreter-Guides Taylor Simard and Eddie Schmidt for an hour-long onsite guided slow looking session. The groups began with a warm-up and introductory conversation about the purpose of slowing down.
Participants then spent five minutes looking at a chosen artwork, followed by a group discussion. They then moved to a different gallery where they repeated the exercise. Following that, participants were invited to explore the museum and select additional artworks for further slow looking. Some explored Indigenous and Canadian galleries, while others gravitated to the European galleries. They were offered folding stools for comfort, and pencils, paper, and sketch boards, many of which were used for drawing.
During the facilitated sessions, the Interpreter-Guides used open-ended prompt questions to facilitate discussion, including: “What is your first impression? Why did you choose this work?” and “Can you associate a word or an emotion to this artwork?” They also encouraged participants to reflect on what the artwork told them about themselves and to jot down a memory or sketch something simple.
Guide Eddie Schmidt noted that participants were “chatty and had great observations, discussion,” while Taylor Simard observed that several participants were “locked in” for the full ten minutes of observation. Both said that participants truly enjoyed the experience, and would return for the Gallery’s monthly Guided Slow Looking Sunday program.
That’s wonderful. Back in 2010, we set a key goal of the Slow Art Day movement: use the annual day to encourage museums to adopt year-round programming and many have like the National Gallery of Canada.
We think this kind of device-off, intensive, real-space experience with other humans is just what our fractured world needs.
The Gallery also did some great outreach. The Visitor Services team distributed the bilingual Slow Looking handout to 59 groups. The Marketing team created a one-minute guided slow looking video, as noted earlier, that was published on Facebook and Instagram, and was later uploaded to the Gallery’s Guided Slow Looking Sunday page.
We at Slow Art Day HQ are grateful to Andrea Gumpert, Taylor Simard, Eddie Schmidt, and the entire team at the National Gallery of Canada for their continued dedication to our movement and we look forward to seeing what they design for Slow Art Day 2027.
— Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. View them on their website.